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Circular  No.  62,  Revised  Edition.  issued  July   28,  idos. 

United  States  Department  of  Agriculti 

BUREAU   OF   ENTOMOLOGY. 

L.  O.  HOWARD,   Entomologist  and  Chief  of 


THE  CABBAGE  HAIR-WO 

By  F.  II.  Chittenden,  v*"^ 

Entomologist  in  Charge  of  Breeding  ExperirHimtyL' 

Not  since  the  " kissing-bug  "  craze  which  originated  m*^ftebington, 
D.  C,  in  June,  1899,  and  spread  generally  throughout  the  country,  has 
there  been  anything  like  such  a  furore  as  was  created  by  the  discovery 
of  the  so-called  "cabbage  snake,"  a  species  of  hair-worm,  in  the  heads 
of  cabbage  in  Tennessee,  South  Carolina,  and  Louisiana,  in  the  fall  of 
1903.  That  year  the  cabbage-snake  scare  was  practically  confined  to 
Tennessee  and  neighboring  States  southward.  The  first  specimen  of 
Mermis  albicans  Diesing  (fig.  1),  which  is  the  cause  of  the  trouble,"  was 
identified  from  McCays,  Tenn.  This 
creature  and  its  still  somewhat  mys- 
terious occurrence  in*  cabbage  have 
become  a  matter  of  much  perplexity 
and  anno}^ance  to  many  of  our  cor- 
respondents, to  economic  entomolo- 
gists, and  to  chemists  and  physicians 
of  the  States  where  the  Mermis  most 
abounds.  Many  reports  have  been 
received  from  reliable  correspond- 
ents of    rumors   of    persons    being 

poisoned  bv  eating  Cabbage  affected    FlG- l --Hair-worm  {Mermis albicans).  Natural 

by  this  hair-worm.     Some  of  'these  size  (°riginal)- 

were  gleaned  from  the  daily  press,  and  many  clippings  of  the  "yellow 
journalism"  order  were  received.  Among  them  were  alleged  reports 
from  a  physician  who  stated  that  when  cabbage  affected  by  hair-worms 
was  eaten  it  produced  instant  death,  and  from  a  "State  chemist"  who 
made  an  examination  of  the  worm  and  reported  that  it  contained 
enough  poison  "to  kill  eight  persons."  In  Raleigh  County,  W.  Va., 
the  cabbage  crop  was  reported  a  complete  failure,  and  "there  was 

a  So  many  inquiries  in  regard  to  the  identity  of  the  creature  and  its  alleged  poisonous 
nature  were  received  that  a  short  account  was  furnished  under  the  title  "Hair  Worms 
hi  Cabbage,"  in  Bui.  44,  of  this  office,  pp.  93-95;  and  similar  inquiries  are  being  made 
to  date  of  publication.  During  1904,  frequently  five  or  six  communications  were 
received  daily. 

47474— Cir.  62—08 


enough  poison  contained  In  one  worm  to  poison  25  men."  It  should 
be  unnecessary  to  add  that  none  of  these  reports  had  any  foundation  in 
fact.  Nevertheless  the  known  presence  of  the  hair-worm  in  an  affected 
district  seriously  injured  the  demand  for  cabbage  there,  causing  very 
considerable  losa  to  t  puckers  and  grocers.     The  exaggerated  reports  of 

L903  were  not  seriously  considered;  and  it  was  a  matter  of  surprise 
when  they  were  reiterated  the  following  year,  and  what  was  in  reality 

a  hoax  assumed  OXOsi  serious  proportions,  not  alone  because  of  wide- 
spread alarm  caused  by  erroneous  reports  of  loss  of  life,  hut  also 
because  of  the  very  material  loss  to  cabbage  growers  and  others  who 
handled  this  commodity,  and  the  decided  extension  of  the  area  in 
which  the  hair-worm  was  detected.  Encouraged  by  erroneous  reports, 
evidently  incited  in  many  cases  by  unscrupulous  persons,  the  scare 
Boon  became  widespread,  causing  general  fear  of  poisoning  from  Vir- 
ginia and  West  Virginia  southward  through  the  same  States  as  were 
affected  in  L903,  and  into  Florida,  and  in  addition  westward  to  Ken- 
tucky. Illinois,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Oklahoma,  and  Colorado. 

DESCRIPTIVE. 

The  cabbage  hair-worm  is  aptly  described  as  resembling  a  piece  of 
basting  thread,  of  the  thickness  of  a  strand  of  corn  silk,  of  a  darning 
needle,  of  a  No.  36  or  No.  4()  thread,  or  like  a  horsehair;  white  in 
color;  found  coiled,  or  coiling  and  uncoiling;  stretched  at  length  or 
crawling  in  cabbage  heads.  Its  length  varies  from  2  to  9  inches,  but 
reports  have  been  received  of  a  creature  found  in  the  heads  of  cabbage 
measuring  9  feet !  The  imagination  of  newspaper  writers  as  to  color 
runs  riot  through  "green,  white,  light  red,  olive  green,  and  yellow.'' 

As  a  matter  of  fact  this  hair-w^orm  is  filiform  or  thread-like,  and 
when  it  attracts  attention  on  cabbage,  measures  generally  from  4  to  8 
inches.  ( me  specimen,  doubtfully  of  the  same  species,  measured  when 
uncoiled  22  inches,  or  nearly  2  feet.  ^The  color  is  white  or  whitish, 
although  it  sometimes  has  a  pale  brownish  or  greenish  tinge. 

THE    SPECIES    IDENTIFIED. 

Many  popular  names  have  been  bestowed  upon  this  worm,  including 
"cabbage  snake,"  " snake,"  " snake  worm,"  "serpent,"  " reptile," 
"cabbage  rattlesnake/3  occasionally  "cabbage  worm/'  and  seldom  if 
ever  hair-worm.  Mosl  specimens  submitted  for  identification  have 
proved  to  be  what  is  known  as  Mi rm is  albicans  Diesing.a  This  crea- 
ture is  neither  an  insect  uor  a  snake,  but  one  of  the  hair-worms  of  the 

a  The  studies  of  Diesing,  Siebold,  Meissner,  and  others  have  led  to  the  expressed  belief 
i  he  mature  sexual  form  of  acuminata,  the  latter  name  having 
ity. 
[Clr.62] 


3 

order  Gordiacea.  The  principal  species  of  this  order  belong  to  the 
genera  Gordius  and  Mermis,  and  were  treated  of  somewhat  at  length 

in  1S77." 

Mo-iii is  albicans  was  received  during  1903  in  a  piece  of  apple, 
found  coiled  Dear  the  seed.  This  species  is  known  to  be  parasitic  on 
the  codling  moth  or  "apple  worm"  (Carpocapsa  pomonella  L.),  which 

accounts  for  its  presence  in  this  instance  (1.  c,  p.  327).  Tt  is  also 
parasitic  on  certain  common  and  destructive  forms  of  grasshoppers, 
Melanoplus  spretus  Thos.  or  Rocky  Mountain  locust,  .1/.  differentialis 
Thos.  or  differential  locust,  Scliistocerca  americana  Dru.;  and  Dissos- 
ii  ira  Carolina  L.6 

LOSSES   OCCASIONED   BY   RUMORS   OF   THE   POISONOUS   NATURE   OF   THE 

HAIR-WORM. 

The  presence  of  this  hair-worm  in  cabbage  and  the  unfortunate  noto- 
riety which  has  been  given  it,  including  the  circulation  of  the  merest 
rumors,  mostly  vague  and  uncertain,  of  so  many  persons  being  poi- 
soned by  eating  affected  cabbage,  has  seriously  injured  the  money 
value  of  this  vegetable  very  generally  throughout  the  affected  States. 
Although  the  cabbage  hair-worm  is  not  in  the  slightest  degree  deleteri- 
ous to  health,  the  credence  given  to  the  most  absurd  rumors  which  w^ere 
circulated  has  injured  cabbage  for  consumption  and  hence  for  sale. 
In  parts  of  Illinois  the  fears  of  growers  and  purchasers  were  such  that 
farmers  were  letting  their  cabbage  go  to  waste.  At  Quinter,  Kans., 
quantities  of  cabbage  shipped  from  Colorado  were  reported  burned 
because  of  the  presence  of  the  hair-worm.  In  Tennessee  it  was  esti- 
mated that  in  1904  fully  85  per  cent  of  the  cabbage  crop  of  the  State 
was  lost — in  fact,  a  sudden  and  complete  suspension  of  the  industry 
was  actually  caused.  Similar  reports  were  received  from  various  por- 
tions of  Missouri,  Iowa,  West  Virginia,  and  Virginia.  ''In  Cheatham, 
Smith,  Franklin,  Coffee,  Bedford,  and  other  counties  [in  Missouri] 
hundreds  of  barrels  of  sauerkraut  were  destroyed  through  fear  that  the 
dreaded  snake  might  be  a  part  of  the  ingredients."  At  Columbia,  Mo., 
hundreds  of  dollars'  worth  of  cabbage  was  lost.  Many  gardeners 
claimed  that  they  could  not  sell  a  single  head  on  account  of  the  " snake 
scare . ' ' 

"  First  report  of  the  U.  S.  Entomological  Commission,  published  in  1877  (pp.  326-334). 
The  hosts  of  hair-worms  include  many  Orthoptera  (grasshoppers  or  locusts,  crickets, 
and  katydids).  They  are  sometimes  parasitic  on  beetles,  more  particularly  Carabidse 
or  ground  beetles,  on  bees  and  flies,  on  caterpillars  of  butterflies  and  moths,  and  even 
on  snails. 

&  The  classification  and  habits  of  Mermis  have  not  been  given  much  study,  hence 
some  slight  doubt  exists  as  to  the  species  of  Mermis  observed  in  the  case  of  some  of 
the  hosts  cited,  but  if  one  species  will  affect  both  lepidopterous  larvse  and  grasshoppers, 
this  is  evidence  of  its  not  being  overparticular  as  to  its  host. 
[Cir.  62] 


ALLEGED    SICKNESS    AND    DEATH    CAUSED    BY    BAIR-WOBM8. 

The  general  impression  id  regard  to  the  poisonous  nature  of  the  cab- 
bage hair-worm  has  bees  mentioned,  yet  considerable  differences  of 
opinion  prevail.  To  repeat  alleged  deaths  and  poisonings  in  detail 
might  have  the  opposite  effect  from  that  for  which  tins  circular  was 
prepared.  Stories  were  circulated  of  whole  families  being  poisoned  by 
eating  cabbage  affected  with  the  hair-worm,  sometimes  with  the  reser- 
vation that  do  one  knew  'personally  of  their  truth,  and  that  many 
ease-  were  traced  to  t  heir  source  and  found  to  be  utterly  without  foun- 
dation. From  Tennessee  came  a  report  of  the  death  in  one  town  of  a 
man.  woman,  and  six  children.  In  portions  of  the  same  and  in  other 
States  persons  were  stated  to  have  been  taken  ill  with  pain  and  vom- 
iting after  having  eaten  cabbage  on  which  the  worms  were  subse- 
quently found.  Possibly  the  consumers  had  been  seized  with  tempo- 
rary hysteria,  imagining  that  they  had  unconsciously  eaten  many  indi- 
viduals, hence  the  symptoms.  Others  were  reported  severely  poisoned 
or  dead.  In  most  cases  exact  localities  were  furnished,  but  names 
were  wanting.  In  some  cases  domestic  animals  were  said  to  have  been 
poisoned;  in  others  cabbage  was  fed  to  them  without  any  ill  results. 

The  death  of  a  man  and  wife  and  their  four  children  in  an  Illinois 
town  after  eating  snake-worm  infested  cabbage  was  reported  in  several 
newspapers  and  the  family  name  mentioned: 

The  entire  family  of  six  ate  the  cabbage  at  supper  and  died  during  the  night.  A 
cabbage  in  the  garden  was  examined  and  found  to  contain  worms  the  size  of  a  thread, 
8  or  10  inches  long  and  about  the  color  of  the  cabbage.  The  cabbage  was  cut  up  and 
fed  to  animals,  and  all  died.  Farmers  are  destroying  all  their  cabbage.  Three  per- 
sons in. the  neighborhood  have  recently  died  after  eating  cabbage. 

In  response  to  inquiry  from  this  office  the  postmaster  of  this  town, 
the  name  of  which  is  omitted  for  obvious  reasons,  wrote  December  17, 
1904,  that  efforts  were  made  to  locate  the  origin  of  the  account,  but 
without  success. 

LIFE    HISTORY. 

The  hair-worms  of  the  genus  Mermis  develop  within  the  body  of 
their  host  and,  according  to  various  writers,  when  about  full  grown 
desert  it  by  rupturing  the  body  wall.  These  individuals  are  undevel- 
oped sexually,  and  characterized  by  a  mouth  consisting  of  a  minute 
aperture,  and  a  minute  anal  point  which  is  generally  curved.  On  issu- 
ing from  the  host  the  worm  bores  into  the  earth  and  conceals  itself. 
During  tins  stage  in  the  soil  do  food  is  taken,  though  several  months 
may  elapse,  the  creature  hibernating  and  becoming  sexually  mature 
before  copulation  takes  place  in  the  spring.  The  sexes  unite  in  knots, 
and  the  female  deposits  numerous  eggsfl  in  the  ground.     Here  the 


"  Ii  might  be  added  that  hair-worms  positively  do  no1  develop  from  horsehairs. 
[Clr.  i 


young,  which  arc  thread-like  like  their  parents,  hatch  and  burrow 
upward  to  the  surface,  and  enter  as  parasites  the  bodies  of  caterpillars 
and  various  soft  insects,  such  as  are  found  under  leaves  and  other 
debris  near  the  ground. 

The  habits  of  Mermis  in  Europe  have  given  rise  to  the  belief  in  a 
rain  of  worms.  Xot  infrequently  in  summer  time,  after  a  warm  rain 
at  night,  swarms  of  these  hair-worms  appear  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  whence  the  supposition  that  they  are  rained  down. 

OTHER    WORMS,    INSECTS,    ETC.,    MISTAKEN    FOR    THE    CABBAGE    WORM. 

Numbers  of  hair-worms  other  than  Mermis  albicans — the  larvae  of 
mycetophilid  flies,  and  some  species  of  myriopods,  as  also  angleworms — 
have  been  received  as  undoubted  cabbage  snakes  or  as  suspects.  In 
fact,  gullible  people  throughout  the  affected  region  have  literally  gone 
"hunting  for  trouble,"  and  have  sent  everything  conceivable  except 
the  true  cabbage  worms  (caterpillars  of  moths  and  butterflies),  which 
are  altogether  too  well  known,  as  suspected  k '  cabbage  snakes.  "  Some 
of  these — all,  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  myriopods  and  my- 
cetophilids,  of  accidental  occurrence  on  cabbage — wall  be  mentioned. 

Mermis  spp. — Several  species  of  Mermis.  related  to  albicans  but  differing  in  various 
particulars,  have  been  received  with  the  usual  reports  of  poisonousness.  One  species 
of  hair-worm,  resembling  the  '"cabbage  snake"  and  possibly  the  same  species,  was 
received  from  St.  Clara,  W.  Va.,  in  March.  1905.  which  measured  nearly  2  feet  in 
length  (22  inches)  when  uncoiled. 

Paragordius  varius,  a  suspect,  was  not  found  in  cabbage  but  in  water  "without 
visible  means  of  support,  "  in  Virginia. 

Geophilus  spp. — Numbers  of  myriopods  of  the  order  Chilopoda,  which  includes  the 
centipedes  and  millipedes,  were  among  this  number,  nearly  all  belonging  to  the  genus 
Geophilus.  There  appear  to  be  no  positive  records  of  the  infliction  of  serious  injury 
to  man  by  any  forms  of  these  creatures  found  in  the  United  States,  but  certain  tropical 
forms  are  decidedly  venomous.  These  creatures  sometimes  attack  man,  if  acciden- 
tally handled,  but  they  are  not  known  to  occur  in  cabbage.  The  poisonous  species 
are  large  and  conspicuous,  and  therefore  not  likely  to  be  eaten  with  food.  The 
species  of  this  genus  have  carnivorous  habits,  and  there  is  a  possibility  that  they  may 
destroy  some  forms  of  cabbage  worms  and  hence  may  be  beneficial. 

Earthworms. — Specimens  of  earthworms,  in  such  bad  condition  that  identification 
was  impossible,  were  received  from  West  Virginia  and  Ohio,  where  they  were  mis- 
taken for  the  cabbage  hair-worm. 

Mycetophilids. — The  larva?  of  mycetophilid  flies  were  received  in  several  instances, 
from  August  until  October,  1904,  chiefly  from  Tennessee,  Virginia,  and  South  Caro- 
lina. A  correspondent  at  Duffield,  Va..  pronounced  these  maggots  poisonous,  and  said 
that  death  had  resulted  from  the  use  of  cooked  cabbage  in  which  they  had  been  found. 
A  correspondent  at  Yokum,  Ky..  made  a  similar  report. 

HAIR-WORMS    POSITIVELY    NOT    POISONOUS. 

In  spite  of  repeated  published  and  written  statements  that  the  so- 
called  cabbage  snake  is  not  poisonous,  this  fact  has  not  been  given 

[-Cir.62] 


very  genera]  credence,  hence  the  matter  is  still  imperfectly  understood 
by  many.  As  it  is  an  esl  ablished  fad  thai  none  of  the  hair-worm-  poi  - 
-  poisonous  properties,  it  was  not  considered  necessary  to  make 
any  analyses  or  experiments  at  this  Department  to  demonstrate  their 
nontoxic  quality.  However,  Dr.  Louis  Leroy,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  who 
corresponded  with  this  office  on  this  topic  during  Augusl  and  Septem- 
ber, 1904,  undertook  to  demonstrate  beyond  peradventure  of  doubt 
that  the  hair-worm  could  not  possibly  cause  harm  to  persons  eating  it 
or  cabbage  od  which  it  had  occurred,  and,  although  he  has  already 
published  on  the  subject ,  it  may  be  well,  for  the  benefit  of  skeptics,  to 
repeat  in  substance  his  conclusions: 

During  September  he  wrote  that  he  had  carried  on  a  thorough  investigation  of  the 
alleged  poisonous  nature  of  this  hair-worm,  and  found  absolutely  nothing  toxic  con- 
d  with  it.  cither  when  eaten  raw  or  when  cooked,  or  on  cabbage  on  which  the 
creature  had  lived.  Efforts  to  trace  every  reported  case  of  poisoning  in  Tennessee 
result;  d  in  ascertaining  that  they  wire  all  without  foundation:  no  authentic  case 
could  be  cited;  and  finally,  he  Bays  "  I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand  how  such  reports 
could  gain  credence  and  ever  be  published  for  facts  in  the  daily  press. "  In  order  to 
determine  whether  or  not  the  hair-worm  had  any  poisonous  qualities  he  instituted  a 
i  experiments,  using  rabbits,  guinea  pigs,  cats.  d«>gs.  horses,  and  cows,  finding 
that  they  could  all  eat  the  worms,  raw  or  cooked,  with  impunity.  Extracts  from  the 
hair-worms  prepared  with  various  solvents  were  also  found  t<«  he  entirely  innocuous, 
administered  internally    per  orem)  and  injected  hypodermically. 

"Believing  that  possibly  these  worms  might  cause  decomposition  or  fermentation 
in  the  cabbage,  with  the  production  of  poisonous  substances,  the  result  of  the  decom- 
position," he  allowed  samples  of  cabbage,  both  raw  and  cooked,  to  decompose  with 
tlie  worms,  and  then  tested  the  decomposed  material  for  poisonous  properties  as  above, 
and  in  no  cose  was  any  toxic  substance  obtained,  Chemical  analyses  of  the  worms 
and  the  products  of  die  imposition  mentioned  were  made,  and  he  was  unable  to  find 
any  ptomaine  or  other  isolatable  substance  of  a  toxic  nature. 

A-  a  result  the  conclusion  was  reached  "that  the  cabbage  snake  is 
entirely  harmless,  and  that  public  rumors  and  superstitions  are  falla- 
without  semblance  of  foundation." 

Approved: 

James  Wilson, 

Si  '■/■'  tary  of  Agriculture. 

Washington,  D.  C,  June  10,  1908. 
Xoti:.— First  issue,  May  17,  1905. 

[Cir 

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